Sharkfin. Attempt on an ergonomic bass

[Beate Ritzert]

Well, this will not be a full build thread. I am going to show one or the other stages of the build process of that bass.

The shape ... is based on my ergonomic bariton guitar:



The fretboard is my first attempt to do a multiscale fretboard and the 2nd fretboard i make myself. On one of the old NOS necks i recently had a question on.

Testing the contour:



and glueing the top:



The body will be made of basswood. It will be unusually thick for a semi solid bass, but intensely chambered.

Progress will be slow, mainly because i am working on two more basses and other DIY stuff.
There are still many undecided things: the headstock shape, the vertical profile of the upper horn, the layout of the chambering.

[Aaron Helt]

Looking good. Love that top.

[Randolph Rhett]

Love it! (Although, I admit I don't know what is ergonomic about it)

[Beate Ritzert]

Ergonomics - mainly he position on the leg. The short scale. The slightly smaller - gibsonesque - string spacing. The hopefully anatomically well fitting sculpturing of the back. And the multiscale fretboard - in this specific setting with neutral position at fret 5. I am also thinking about bringing the upper horn back to enforce a playing position which will allow me to see the neck from the back and therefore discourage me from staring permanently on my fingers (a feature i like on my archtop guitars).

[Mark Wybierala]

Fahrvergnügen. Yes?

[Beate Ritzert]

Yes.

And actually a necessity as my hands often hurt from the load imposed during work.

[Beate Ritzert]

And now fretted. Third time i ever did it. Unfortunately i had to glue about 2/3 of the frets because the slots were a tiny little bit too wide. I used fish glue. And NC glue for the saddle.

[Beate Ritzert]

Some intermediate stage - need to work around a mistake when i tried to cut along a plane and had only the round contour of the body to mark that. Well, i need to accept a step in the line between top and body

Is there any trick to avoid that? (I drew the line round the roughly rounded body with just a ruler, an i did not expect that that would be off "more than a little bit".



After filling that gap beneath the right plate and a bit of planing:

[Dan Smith]

I love your design!
Ergonomic and pleasing to the eye!

[Beate Ritzert]

Maybe it looks trivial to many here, but it is the 2nd time i tried to bend wood, and i must admit that i am a bit proud of my success - i let it cool and dry forced into its final shape.



Especially regarding my improvised equipment and the comparatively large thickness of the wood.



35 years ago i bent a set of sides for my archtop guitar this way.

[Gordon Bellerose]

Looking good Beate!
One of the things I admire about some of the builders here, you included, is the inventive way some things get done.

[Beate Ritzert]

Thanks.

Here a full impression how the top will probably look.
I plan two slim pickups in order to leave as much of the wood visible as possible.

[Bob Francis]

That is looking great!

[Beate Ritzert]

Again a few steps of progress - top roughly shaped. Unfortunately my scraper was not sharpened correctly and left some scratches. I wanted to haave it done as long as i have full support of the main body. In addition the frets have been shaped. So everything is ready to contour the rest of the body as well.



Some things need to be done on the neck as well before glueing it to the body - headstock shape and side dots. The transition of body and heel will be finally shaped after glueing.

Maybe i should also round the edges of the fretboard - the neck had a few spots where the fretboard chipped out.

[Beate Ritzert]

Not quite finished - i still need to improve the setup and, moreover, i need a solution to hide the fasteing screws of two micro switches under the top - but playable. The ergonomic ideas work pretty well, especially in direct comparision to the LP Jr shaped bass which used a neck with identical profile.

The bass seems to take some time to break in, like with my previous bass the tone will probably need to develop.But anyway a few pictures:

[Barry Daniels]

Wow, very nice!

[John Clifford]

Cool! I really love the back

[Bob Francis]

The back has an organic look. Very nice.

[Aaron Helt]

Home run there!

[David King]

Beate,
I really admire what you've done here. I'm curious about the final weight. It looks to be exceptionally comfortable and well balanced.